Why It's Important to Record Our Family Stories

Whenever we speak with a family interested in making a Life Story video with us, the same concerns usually arise:

"I would love to have my parents' stories recorded, but I don't think they'd be comfortable on tape." Or, "It might feel weird to talk to a stranger about that stuff."

We totally understand these concerns. It's not a normal part of any of our daily routines (unless we're TV personalities) to have a stranger pointing a camera in our face and asking about our lives!

But our answer to our clients is generally the same, "Trust us - you'll be surprised."

At GrandVideo, we believe that granting our loved ones a formal platform to share their stories is a powerful affirmation of the lives they've lived.

Perhaps you can relate. In the back of many of our minds, there's a desire to live in such a way that, at the end of the day, our memories are filled with rich experiences worth talking about.

A video interview provides an outlet for families to tell their loved ones, "Your stories matter so much to us that we want to record them to always have, to pass down, and to share with family for years to come." Even better, it provides a formal occasion to open up family discussions about loose ends, questions and those "things you always wanted to know but never asked" from your childhood. We see this all the time!

My family's experience was no different. When I recorded the stories of my Nana and Poppo, I'll never forget Poppo saying, "Son, I like what you're doing with this. Just thinking about it...what I wouldn't give to hear my Dad's voice one more time." I share the same desire to preserve my grandparents' voices, to listen to and revisit when I'm feeling down or when they're far away.

For many of our parents, the ascension into old age also comes with a hit to their dignity. They may receive less attention as we kids grow families of our own, and they may need to ask for help with simple tasks. We know they're still the same people that raised us, but they may be compelled to feel like a burden on us for needing our assistance.

One of our goals is to help instill a fresh sense of dignity for our loved ones, to remind them that their ascension into old age doesn't make them a burden, but actually a fountain of life experiences and wisdom, a special link between present day and a fascinating, distinct past.

In our interviews, we love hearing at the end of the day that families are surprised how much they learned about their loved ones' lives. By the same token, the loved one is usually surprised with how much they could remember from so long ago. This tends to open a dialogue long after the cameras are gone about new stories and questions for the family to discuss.

We often get so caught up in routine that years go by without meaningful discussions with our family about the past. At GrandVideo, we believe it's a special occasion to ask our loved ones to walk down memory lane with us. For more information on scheduling a life story interview, learn more about how easy and fun it is to make a video here.